Last week Conultancy.uk presented an overview of the most important consulting firms active in the field of business consulting. The ranking, compiled by independent analyst firm IDC, contains 12 consulting firms. De list is dominated by worldwide multi-service firms such as the Big Four and Accenture as well as strategic consulting firms McKinsey, BCG and Booz & Company. Remarkably, management - and IT consulting firm BearingPoint is the only European firm in the prestigious list.

BearingPoint: Growth after MBO

BearingPoint was founded in 2011 after an IPO of KPMG Consulting. In 2009 BearingPoint sold its U.S. practice to Deloitte and PwC, the European practice continued as an independent entity after a management buyout (MBO) of the MT. Since the MBO BearingPoint has experienced a strong growth in Europe, the company now counts 3,200 consultants in 15 countries.

In the analysis of IDC BearingPoint is identified as a 'key player', together with several other consulting firms such as McKinsey and BCG. According to analysts, the market share of the consulting firm in the market of business consulting is comparable to Booz & Company and IBM. A brief overview of the results of BearingPoint:

Strengths

According to IDC BearingPoint has several distinctive characteristics compared to its competitors: "BearingPoint is seen in the EMEA region as stronger than similar companies in its approach of data collection, the implementation of innovations and how it integrates its project team's that of the customer's". IDC continues: "Moreover, we believe that the company is better at transferring knowledge and experience of projects and in tailoring its offering to the new services in the local business community. It helps its clients to better manage risks.

Peter Mockler, Managing Partner at BearingPoint, explains: "We are very proud of this recognition as a major player in the field of business consulting. This is also a recognition of our focus on measurable, sustainable business results, which we achieve through a combination of competence in the field of management and technology and by working closely with our clients, from drawing up a strategy to implementing it together."

Points for Improvement

According to the analysts the most important improvement point for BearingPoint is "offering a full suite of business consulting services", particularly services focused on growth (eg, market entry and deployment of new services).